Vehicle door construction



y 15, 1951 H. A. DARRIN 2,553,134,

VEHICLE DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 28, 1948 FIG. 2.

INVENTOR HOWARD A. DARR IN BY M g z ATTORNEYS Patented May 15, 1951UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,553,134

VEHICLE DOOR CONSTRUCTION Howard A. Darrin, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 28, 1948, Serial No. 11,977

My present invention has to do with automobile door and windowconstruction.

In conventional automobile construction, the door super-structure, whichprovides slideways and supports for the glass window which moves up anddown in the door, is extremely weak, tending to wobble and vibrate andnever providing a firm support for the glass.

It is an object of my invention to provide a door super-structure whichmay be readily and economically installed and which at the same time issubstantially rigid and amply reinforced, so that it is capable ofwithstanding heavy usage without becoming loose and noisy.

Another object of the invention is to provide a door construction whichis peculiarly adaptable for use as a door to a vehicle in which a roofopening is provided to afford more head room to passengers entering andleaving the vehicle.

Another object is to provide a novel window construction forautomobiles.

Other objects will appear from the following description of theembodiment of the invention which I, at present, flnd preferable, forwhich purpose I shall refer to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of an automobile embodying myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a view like Fig. 1, but showing a convertible type body withthe top down;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section showing a modification of theinvention.

Referring now to the drawings, I show at 5 an automobile body having adoor 6 hingedly mounted in the door opening I of the body to swingoutwardly.

Except for the characteristic features of my invention which will belater described, the door is of conventional construction, and has anopening knob 8.

The door super-structure to which my invention relates is bestillustrated in Figs. 3 and 4.

According to the invention, the door has mounted upon its top edge acontinuous window frame i5 having a bottom I 5a, opposite sides I51),and a top 150. Each of the sides, as well as the top, is of somewhatC-cross-section, having projecting medially from its inner surface apair of spaced parallel ribs [6 which provide slideways for the windowglass G which con- 1 Claim. (Cl. 29644) ventionally is slidably mountedin the door channel H. The channel as well as the slideways arepreferably lined with felt or the like l8.

The bottom member l5a of the frame has an inner downward extension orflange 20 by which the entire frame is secured to the inner face of thedoor as by screws 2|.

It will be noted, therefore, that the sides, top and bottom portions ofthe frame, of c-crosssection, provide for the slideways highly effectiveflange reinforcement which prevents the frame from being deflectedlaterally or from wobbling or rattling in use. At the same time thisreinforcement positively maintains the slideways in upright position.The entire frame may be installed simply by attaching the flange 20 tothe door and may be as readily detached.

As will be best seen in Figs. 3 and 4, the inner flange of the frame isslightly shorter than and does not curve outwardly as much as the outerflange. This is in order to permit the inner flange to pass the weatherstrip which extends around the door opening but permits it to engage theinner strip 3|.

In the foregoing, I have described only the frame l5 for the front doorof the vehicle, but it will be understood that the same structure may beutilized for the rear door or for the rear side window of a vehiclewhich does not have a rear door. For instance, see Fig. 5, where thebody post dividing the front window from the rear window extendsupwardly between side elements [5b of two contiguous frames IS.

The benefits derived from my structure may be even more apparent in Fig.2, where a vehicle of the convertible type is shown with the top downand the windows raised. In such cars there is no appreciable lateralsupport for the window slideways, such as is provided by my invention.

It has been proposed in some low body, low slung automobiles to provideextra head room for passengers entering and leaving the vehicle, byprovidin a cut-out in the roof or top of the car immediately over thedoor. My invention is particularly useful for such a constructionbecause it provides a firm and rigid support for the roof portion whichfills the cut-out portion when the door is closed. Such a constructionis shown in Fig. 6.

Referring to Fig. 6, the roof R has a cut-out portion defined by theframe element 40. Element it presents an undercut 4| and has a weatherstrip 42 to be engaged by the removable roof portion 45 which fills thecut-out.

This removable roof portion curves downwardly and outwardly to the topof the door superstructure and is attached at its lower edge to thesuper-structure frame l5 within the channel provided by top element I50of the frame, as by screws 41. Consequently, as the door opens theremovable roof portion moves with the door and is amply supported by myflanged superstructure frame.

I claim:

In a vehicle door adapted to be mounted in a vehicle body opening ofgreater height than the door, a window frame shaped to outline theremainder of said opening, said frame having a bottom portion presentinga longitudinal downwardly opening channel receiving the top edge of thedoor in conforming and nested relationship therewith, and having anintegral attaching flangedepending from and forming an eX- tension ofone of its side edges parallel with the underlyingsurface and secured tosaid surface of the door, said flange being parallel both longitudinallyand transversely with respect to the door surface and in abuttingrelationship therewith, being coextensive with the length of said bottomportion of the frame and constituting the principal means of attachmentof the window frame to the door.

HOWARD A. DARRIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Great Britain July 31, 1930

